Cubone Keep
A small but strongly built castle on the banks of Burtuke Bay, Cubone Keep. A taciturn mercenary lord named Jolliver Grimjaw and his band of sell-swords occupy the keep. They are repairing the old castle and protecting trade along the river from the depredations of monsters and bandits. When the characters arrive at Cubone Keep, read the following text: A small castle overlooks the mighty Burtuke Bay. A gatehouse and keep stand atop a low bluff, but the walls are built to the waters edge. On the coastal banks, another low tower guards a boat basin where keelboats are moored. The keep seems old and worn, but new timbers and shingles suggest that repairs are underway. A white banner with a blue kobold, styled as a dragon flies over the keep. The front gate is closed. Keep Features The water cultists are busy repairing Cubone Keep, but parts of the complex remain inaccessible. For example, the upper floors of the north tower and the water tower are filled with debris. The following features are common to the keep. Any exceptions are noted in areas to which they apply. * Arrow Slits. In the castle walls, arrow slits are 9 feet above the ground level, 8 inches wide, and 4 feet high. * Ceilings. Most ceilings are 12 feet high. * Defenders. '''Jolliver Grimjaw is known as "Jolly" to his followers, as a shortening of his first name and an sarcastic comment on his demeanour. He leads sell-swords, who work for money rather than ideology. Only some of the commoner servants lack loyalty to Grimjaw and the cult. * '''Doors. Interior doors are made of wood. It takes a successful DC 10 Strength check to force open a locked door. Exterior doors are reinforced with iron bands and can be barred. Such a barred door requires a successful DC 20 Strength check to force open. * Light. During the day, the castles windows and arrow slits provide bright light for all interior spaces. At night, interior spaces are brightly lit with small oil lamps. * Locks. A lock requires thieves tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check to open. * Treasure. Each warrior in the keep carries 2d10 gp in mixed coinage and minor valuables. * Walls. The walls are 15 feet above outside ground level and 10 feet above inside ground level. A crenellated parapet faces the outside. One bandit stands watch on each of the four wall sections, pacing back and forth. Keep Locations K1. Front Gate The keeps main entrance features a two-story gatehouse attached to a round tower. Arrow slits look out onto the ground outside the gate. The gate itself is a double door of thick timbers reinforced by iron bands. K2. Gatehouse The gates open to a thirty-foot passage leading east. A portcullis blocks the far end of the passage, but you can see the castle yard on the other side. An arrow slit in the southern wall of the passage provides defenders a way to fire on intruders who get this far. Gatehouse Interior This is the ground floor of the gatehouse tower. A door leads to the east, and stairs climb to the floor above. Arrow slits in this room offer a view of the ground outside the castle and the gate passage to the north. Two double-bunks stand against the walls. K3. Gatehouse Upper Floor This room above the castle gatehouse features doors that lead out to the tops of the walls to the north and to the east. Stairs lead down to the floor below. A chain mechanism in the northern half of the room positioned over the main gate raises or lowers the gate bars. Another controls the portcullis. Three holes in the floor, each about a foot square, look down on the passage below. K4. Castle Yard The area just inside the castle gatehouse consists of a small courtyard of bare dirt and tufts of wiry grass. A stable stands to the east, the gatehouse to the west, and the main yard of the castle lies to the north. The keep occupies the northern corner of the castle yard. Stone stairs near the keep lead up to the top of the wall. K5. Ruined Stable This old stable is in bad shape. Most of the roof has caved in, and rotting debris fills the interior. Six horse stalls line the back wall. K6. Armory Weapon racks along the walls of this armory hold spears. Barrels full of crossbow bolts and arrows stand near the doors. Open chests in the middle of the room contain suits of leather armor. The most unusual items in this armory are the shields-they are made of beaten copper and fashioned into the shape of horseshoe crab shells. K7. Bathhouse Two big wooden washtubs occupy the middle of this room, and a row of curtains along the west wall provides privacy for several privies. K8. Barracks Nine double bunks fill this barracks, each with a pair of footlockers tucked underneath. Doors exit to the north, west, and east. K9. Water Tower The upper floor of this tower looks deserted, but the ground floor is still in use. Curtains hanging across the eastern half of the room wall off someones private quarters, and several straw pallets lie on the floor near the door. A capstan stands against the north wall, with a heavy chain disappearing through a pipe to the northeast. The river laps just beneath the arrow slits of the tower. K10. Landing The keeps eastern wall juts out into the river, forming a good-sized basin in which a couple of keelboats float. A wide gap in the southeast wall provides access to the river, although it is blocked by a heavy chain. A twenty-foot tall bluff of rock and earth separates the landing and a nearby tower from the rest of the castle grounds. To the north, a wide stream flows out of a cave mouth into the boat basin. An iron grate blocks access to the stream. K11. Water Gate The keeps eastern wall is built into the river, forming a long pier that encloses a boat basin. A heavy chain that emerges from the tower to the south stretches across the entrance. K12. Moored Keelboat A large keelboat is moored to the inner side of the keeps east wall, floating in the boat basin. A rope ladder leads from the top of the wall to the deck of the boat, about six feet below. Hatchways lead into the boats cabin from the bow and the stern. K13. Dark Stream The north side of the boat basin laps against a steep, rocky bluff. From the base of the bluff, a subterranean river empties into the boat basin. The river is close to thirty feet wide, and the cave ceiling is about six feet above the water level in the middle. An iron grate blocks the stream mouth. K14. North Tower Filthy furs and discarded bones litter the interior of this tower. A rank animal stench hangs in the air. K15. Chapel The keeps chapel contains plain wooden pews facing a large altar at the west end of the room. No idol hints at what deity is venerated here. A crude symbol is painted on the wall above the altar, resembling an X with a horizontal bar linking the bottom limbs. Several straw pallets lie near the chapel door. K16. Great Hall This room is the great hall of the keep. It is two stories high, with stone stairs on both sides of the room leading up to a stone balcony at the west end of the chamber. Heavy double doors lead east to the castle yard, while two interior doors open to the west. Arrow slits look out to the north and the south. At the west end of the room, below the balcony, a large wooden chair sits behind a wide table littered with papers and discarded plates. A second table, this one long and furnished with benches, runs down the middle of the hall. The walls are painted in green and blue, decorated with tattered banners showing nautical designs. K17. Servants Quarters This plain dormitory features six bunk beds and a small wooden table and chairs, as well as two large laundry tubs and several baskets full of dirty clothes and linens. K18. Kitchens Two large hearths on the north wall of this room hold kettles full of simmering stew. Washbasins and worktables with old, battered crockery stand in the middle of the room. Sacks, casks, and barrels are piled along the southern wall, and cheeses and smoked fish hang from the ceiling. K19. Old Library Old bookshelves line the walls of this room, but most are empty. One old shelf has been cleared and restocked with a selection of tomes. A single bunk sits under the narrow window at the far end of the room, near a small desk, a wooden chair, and a chest. The floor looks wet. K20. Keep Guardroom Four bunk beds line the walls of this guardroom. To the south, an arrow slit looks out over the castle yard, and a door exits to the castle parapet. Another door exits to the north. K21. Lords' Chambers A large semicircular room occupies the western half of this floor of the keep. Three narrow windows look out over the countryside outside the castle walls. The rooms furnishings are very plain, including a hard-looking bunk, a small wooden table, and a couple of simple chairs. Several large chests occupy the rooms southern corner. K22. Secret Landing At the bottom of the stairs, you find a torchlit chamber where two boats bob in an underground stream. The stream flows toward daylight to the east and leads upstream into darkness toward the west.